The airport as an operating environment is complex from the environmental perspective. August Hänninen also noticed this when he started working at Finavia in August 2024.
“Our operations affect many things, such as climate emissions, air quality or noise. Sustainability is emphasised because we influence people’s everyday lives in many ways.”
Hänninen has studied environmental sciences and graduated from the University of Eastern Finland with a Master’s degree. Before Finavia, he worked with health, safety and environmental issues in the chemical industry and before that in the food industry.
Data, anticipation and climate work
Hänninen's workdays are varied. The beginning of the year is spent on reporting, as Finavia compiles a final overview of the past year. Reporting requirements and regulation increase year by year, which has a big impact on work.
Hänninen is strongly involved in Finavia’s climate work, such as preparing carbon roadmaps, calculating and monitoring climate emissions and assessing air quality impacts. One of his key projects is the development of Finavia’s emissions calculation system. Today, there is a lot of data and information – making it part of decision-making is also important in environmental matters.
“I also constantly follow the development of the industry. We aim to look ahead and maintain an understanding of how we as an airport operator can be part of sustainable aviation. Every flight arrives at and departs from airports, so their significance for the development of aviation as a whole is great.”
Long-term work and influence
Hänninen points out that environmental work is long-term and the results are not immediately visible.
“When you do notice that your work is reflected in declining figures in emission calculations or as a concrete positive change, it feels meaningful.”
One of the highlights of Hänninen’s career has been participating in the certification of the net zero emission level at Helsinki Airport and Lapland airports in accordance with the requirements of Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA).
“Achieving net zero emissions has been a large project and has required strong teamwork for years. It has been a long process, and the colleagues before me have already achieved a lot. The end result is rewarding, even though maintaining the achieved level will also require work in the future. Finavia’s goal is for all of our airports to operate with net zero emissions, even if not everyone is applying for the actual ACA certificate.”
Sustainability is part of everyday life at work and at home
Hänninen works in an environmental team of 11 people.
“We are a service unit that helps other teams and airports with environmental issues. The work involves networking and many different stakeholders. The things we deal with are complex, which increases the diversity of our work.”
At Finavia, Hänninen has been pleasantly surprised by the open and development-oriented atmosphere.
“Here, people are encouraged to have new perspectives and do things differently than before. There is room for ideas and experiments, and it is usually easier to learn through them. In my role as a specialist, I have been able to build my own work strongly on the basis of my own interests,” he says.
Hänninen also takes the environment into account outside of work.
“As an individual, I strive to make sustainable choices in everyday life, such as using renewable energy, consuming little and promoting the circular economy. I mainly commute to work by public transport. Individual choices have power when looking at the bigger picture.”
The same principles also guide Finavia’s environmental work and, more broadly, all of its operations.
“It is important how different operators throughout the value chain work together. The airport is part of a larger whole, where the climate and environmental impacts are created by the combined impact of many operators.”
